Before I get started, I need to apologize to Javier Rodriguez 1, Javier Rodriguez 2, Javier Rodriguez 3, and Javier Rodriguez 4 - all from Coral Gables, Florida, Jonathan Cox of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and Dave Piasecki of Tacoma, Washington who were not included in the first day's update because their e-mailed brackets went to my Spam folder. I have found them, properly date-stamped, and they have been scored and are be included below. Welcome also to Karen Katz of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who mailed in her sheet, and I received it yesterday. She is also scored and included in the standings. That means seven more entrants than we thought.
While I am handing out apologies, I apologize to Drew Foster of Lake Worth Beach, Florida, as I failed to credit him with the full 10 points for guaranteeing Furman's win. I have adjusted his score accordingly and his total as shown below is now correct.
As far as the games go, we should have known that we were in for some serious madness just by the end of one of the early games - Xavier over Kennessaw State. Kennessaw State, after an incredible block by Kennessaw's Chris Youngblood, ends up fouling Colby Jones of Xavier after a scramble for the ball. He makes one to give Xavier a one-point lead (instead of 2 if he hit both). Kennessaw's Terrel Burden then drives the lane for a seemingly open layup and the lead with 5 seconds remaining, when Jack Nunge comes out of nowhere to block his shot. In the scramble for the rebound a Kennessaw player seemingly recovers the ball and is fouled, but the referees - probably rightly - let the teams keep scrambling, and Xavier's Souley Bourn recovers, and seals the win with 4 straight free throws. And this was the NON-Upset.
From the first set of games to the last there was excitement, as Florida Atlantic's Nick Boyd makes a layup with 2.5 seconds left to push FAU into a 1-point lead over Memphis, and securing their first-ever NCAA Tournament victory.
So, did any upsets occur? Let me think. Not sure I remember. Oh year - A 1-seed lost for only the third time ever in NCAA basketball tournament history as Fairleigh Dickenson, a team that in most ordinary years would not even be in the tournament beat Purdue as the Big-10 regular season and tournament champions folded for the third consecutive tournament to a 16-seed. So you might ask what I mean that Fairleigh Dickenson wouldn't ordinarily be in the tournament? Merrimack College won the Northeast Conference tournament championship, but because the are just transitioning from Division II to Division I, the NCAA has a transition period in which that school cannot participate in the post-season. So, instead of Merrimack playing in the NCAA Tournament, Fairleigh Dickinson, the regular-season champion - received the conference's automatic bid. They then had to beat the Texas Southern Tigers - a 14-21 team that won the SWAC conference tournament to receive an automatic bid, despite finishing 8th in the conference - which they did handily 84-61 on Wednesday. You might also ask what I mean by the third time a 16 seed has won. Well, you probably remember 2018's game in which University of Maryland-Baltimore County absolutely destroyed Virginia. But, that was not the first time it happened.
For today's tournament history lesson, let's wander back to Saturday, March 14, 1998. Your Tournament Host was behind the bar demanding that the television sets be turned to ESPN2 to watch some tournament basketball. The Harvard Crimson, behind Kathy Delaney-Smith, had traveled to Palo Alto, California to take on the number 1 seeded Stanford Cardinal coached by the legendary Tara Vanderveer. Everyone - employees and customers alike - chastised Your Tournament Host for wanting to watch women's basketball. But, as the clock turned to midnight on the east coast and as the 16th-seeded Crimaon, behind th spectacular play of Allison Feaster - the nation's leading scorer and future WNBAer - kept the top-seeded Cardinal on edge, the spectators in my bar became more and more interested in the game (and less interested in chastising me.) The tension mounted in the arena as Stanford playing on its home court (in the women's tournament at this time the topf 4 seeds host the first and second round games,) could not contain Feaster, who finished with 35 points and 13 rebounds. As the game approached the under four minute television timeout, my bar was officially closed, but most of the customers stayed to watch the end of the game. They were not disappointed as Suzie Miller's basket with just under two minutes remaining put the Crimson up for good, as the closed out the Cardinal on a 9-2 run to win the game 71-67.
Allison Feaster was the first person in any sport to be named Ivy League Player of the Year three times. She was a first round draft pick in the WNBA, going 5th to the Los Angeles Sparks. She played ten years in the WNBA, while simultaneously playing in Europe for those 10 years, whils also playing 8 more. After she retired she traveled as a Sports Diplomacy envoy for the State Department before taking a front office job in the G-League as the league's Player Personnel & Coach Relations Lead before being hired by the Boston Celtics as the Vice President of Team Operations and Organizational Growth.
Now, back to the pool. Purdue losing knocks out one of our champions. But, despite the fact that everyone in our league picks some upset, no entrants received any bonuses for correctly selecting Fairleigh Dickenson. A special heart-feld condolence to Scott Bieterman 1 and Scott Bieterman 2 of West Palm Beach, Florida, who I believe is an alumnus of Purdue University.
As a reminder, the champions in our league are: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Duke, Florida Atlantic, Gonzaga, Houston, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Miami, Marquette, Michigan State, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, UCLA, Virginia.
For the day, it was very competitive in terms of selections. We had exactly zero unanimous selections in our pool, as a couple of entrants selected Grand Canyon over Gonzaga. So, if nobody received bonus points for the Fairleigh Dickenson win, how was that not a unanimous selection? Easy, Alyssa Hopps of Quincy, Massachusetts thought Purdue was ripe for an upset, but selected Texas Southern to win. Oh, so close Alyssa.
We did have one other upset occur yesterday, that being Pittsburgh over Iowa State. Twenty-seven entrants chose Pittsburgh, but 4 had them as their guarantee: Silas Nichols of Washington, D.C., Sal Disanza of presumably somewhere near West Palm Beach, Florida, Javier Rodriguez 2 of Coral Gables, Florida and Karen Katz of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For that, you all receive Co-Picks of the Day! A special mention to Jessica Samuels of Palm Beach Gardens, FL and John Hopps of Quincy, Massachusetts for going 15-1 yesterday.
Because of his Pittsburgh pick, Silas Nichols of Washington, DC takes the overall lead from Your Tournament Host, who falls all the way to second. Newcomer to the pool Sal Disanza rises to third.
Interesting Stats of the Day
4. At one point in the second half Iowa State made 1 out of 19 shots, after starting the game 0-8 from the field. Hard to win any games, let along tournament games, with the rate of failure.
3. Purdue's unanimous first-team All-American Zach Edey was held without a shot in the last 9 minutes of the game, and held to only 1 shot in the final 13:30. Again, hard to win when you aren't really playing.
2. Oscar Tshiebwe of Kentucky finished the game with 25 rebounds, the most since Phil Hubbard of Michigan grabbed 26 rebounds in 1977.
1. Fairleigh Dickenson ranked 353rd in the nation in defensive efficiency this year. To state the obvious, 352 college basketball team played better defense than Fairleigh Dickinson did this year. Yikes.
No fun social media posts as I tried to mix basketball watching with St. Patrick's Day. Hopefully see some good ones on Saturday.
Players of the Day
8. RaeQuan Battle - Montana State - The Chef finished with 27 points in a loss to Kansas State. Probably need a RZA, a GZA, a Ghostface Killah, a Method Man, an Inspectah Deck, a U-God, and an Ol' Dirty Bastard in the rotation to help.
7. Terquavion Smith - North Carolina State - Finished with 32 points. Would have placed higher if his team had won.
6. Mike Miles - TCU - Finished with 26 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
5. Oscar Tshiebwe - Kentucky - The star from the Democratic Republic of the Congo finished with 8 points, 25 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.
4. Trayce Jackson-Davis - Indiana - Scored 24 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished 4 assists.
3. Julian Strawther - Gonzaga - 28 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks
2. Ryan Kalkbrenner - Creighton - 31 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks
1. Adama Sanogo - Connecticut - 28 points, 13 rebounds.
As far as our players, our standings are below. Feel free to let me know if you think I made a mistake, as sometimes I do. Just know that if I re-score your sheet and find a mistake that was made in your favor, I will correct that too.
1. Silas Nichols - 39
No comments:
Post a Comment